The invention relates to a footed motor mounting base for supporting a footed drive motor in driving relationship with a gear motor. More specifically, the invention relates to such a motor mounting base that is usable to mount a standard footed motor on a gear motor that is provided with a C-faced reducer so that either a standard footed motor or a C-faced motor can be used alternately to drive the gear motor without requiring the use of any further precision adjustments or adapters to assure appropriate operating alignment of the driving and driven shafts.
Heretofore it has been relatively common practice in the field of gear motor drives to provide drive motor mounting assemblies that enable a given gear motor to be driven alternatively by either a standard footed motor or by a C-faced motor that is supported directly on a C-faced reducer fastened to the gear motor housing. Those alternative drive mounting assemblies usually have one of two common disadvantages. One of these typical disadvantages is the need to use a flexible coupling between the driving and driven shafts to accommodate minor misalignment that inevitably results from the use of commercially available footed motor mounting platforms. The other commonly encountered disadvantage is the need to use precision shaft alignment mechanisms in conjunction with mounting stands that include adjustable bushings adapted to be selectively moved into contact with the feet of a footed motor to accurately support them in positions determined by the precision alignment process. An example of one such prior art mounting assembly and method for mounting a standard footed motor in driving relationship to a gear motor is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,594 which issued on Aug. 6, 1968 and is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In addition to describing a contemporaneous mounting means for a standard footed motor, that patent generally describes the type of gear motors for use with which the present invention is particularly suited. Thus, for those readers not paticularly familiar with gear motors, reference may be had to that patent for a further understanding of the basic features of typical commercially available gear motors, an appreciation of which will be helpful in understanding the present invention.
Thus, it is apparent that users of gear motors have long recognized that it would be desirable, in terms of convenience and economy, to provide a method and apparatus for alternatively mounting either a standard footed motor or a C-faced motor on a given gear motor. In particular, it would be desirable to provide such alternative drive means for a gear motor while minimizing the number and expense of adapting components needed. In that regard, it would be particularly desirable to eliminate any requirement that a flexible shaft coupling be utilized to achieve a driving connection in either of the alternative arrangements because such flexible couplings are relatively expensive and inevitably necessitate the provision of additional axial spacing between the driving motor and the driven gear motor.
As mentioned above, the known prior art is deficient in providing such an optimum driving arrangement for gear motors. Instead, the prior art mounting arrangements for gear motor drive means inherently are encumbered by one of the two common disadvantages identified above. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a motor mounting base for supporting a standard footed motor in driving relationship to a gear motor having a C-faced reducer, thereby to enable the standard footed motor to be coupled in driving relationship to the gear motor drive shaft without requiring the use of a flexible coupling between the two shafts.
Another object of the invention is to provide a motor mounting base for mounting a standard footed motor on a gear motor having a C-faced reducer in a manner such that precision shaft-aligning measurements are not necessary and precise supporting adjustments, with adjustable bushings or other means necessarily incorporated in the base for such a purpose, need not be made in order to accurately support the feet of the standard motor in the desired aligned operating relationship with the gear motor drive shaft.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mounting base for supporting a footed motor in driving relationship on a C-faced reducer for a gear motor, in combination with a standard footed motor secured to the mounting base and a gear motor having a driven shaft with a bore formed in the outer end thereof for receiving in snug sliding relationship therein the drive shaft of said motor, and in further combination with a flowable, non-ferrous spacer in the bore between the shafts for resisting fretting of the shafts during their operation.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of it contained herein taken in combination with the accompanying drawings.